Tech Bytes

by Brad McAllister On Feb 13, 2009

According to SITA, the specialist provider of IT solutions to the air transport industry, 42 million bags were mishandled worldwide in 2007, costing the industry $3.8 billion. In the United States alone, 4.4 million bags were mishandled.

SITA recently announced that its BagManager system is now being utilized by 44 international and domestic airlines in Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York. BagManager, a baggage reconciliation system, provides tracking for more than five million checked bags each year at JFK, according to a SITA press release.

Baggage reconciliation is an automated system which provides a positive match between passengers and their bags, ensuring that both travel together aboard the same aircraft. BagManager tracks the movement of baggage from check-in to flight departure, monitoring baggage between airports while also providing baggage handlers with real-time information on baggage status. SITA says the BagManager reduces costs, increases customer service, improves staff effectiveness, and enhances security.

BagManager can also process bar-coded bag tags and new RFID tags, and provides the intelligence behind the world’s largest RFID baggage deployment, handling over 20 million RFID-tagged bags per year.

SITA’s BagManager is in use at more than 70 airports worldwide, interfacing with check-in and baggage sortation systems to deliver end-to-end baggage management and reconciliation.

BagScan can accommodate a range of working environments, from one airline to multiple airports, and enables online, interline, local, and transfer baggage handling.

BagScan features easy identification of unauthorized passenger baggage and optional support of RFID baggage tags. The system also records the time and location of the bag, with multiple user-defined scan locations.

Quantum Aviation Solutions units have been installed at several airports worldwide, including Denver, Chicago O’Hare, LAX, JFK, Cairo, and Budapest.

L-3 offers updated Checkpoint Screening
L-3 Security & Detection Systems introduces the ACX 6.4-MV, a new checkpoint system which combines automated explosives detection technology with multi-view X-ray screening. The system enables security personnel to detect explosives and other suspicious objects more accurately, according to the company.

The system features high-clarity bag images in real-time and automatically alerts operators to suspected explosives. According to a press release, the information provided by the ACX 6.4-MV reduces false alarms and significantly shortens bag scan times, especially at airports with high-volume checkpoints.

The ACX 6.4-MV is the most compact system in its class and integrates easily into existing checkpoints without costly reconfigurations, says L-3.
GE security Inc.

GE Security Inc. recently reported that more than 100 CTX 9400 in-line baggage explosive detection units and upgrades have been sold to major international airports during the first year of its availability.

The system offers customers the ability to protect their baggage screening infrastructure investments by ensuring a continuing upgrade path to the latest technologies through a series of regular product releases, according to the company.